Cheap Oil
So over the summer, I thought I was being clever, and joined up with a group of people doing a fixed-rate group purchase of #2 heating oil. The idea is that a bunch of people agree to buy X volume of fuel, and receive a reduced rate as a thank-you. The year before, some friends in this group were paying nearly 40 cents/gallon less than we were.
This summer, of course, oil/gas prices were through the freaking roof, so the “reduced rate” was a not-very-reduced $2.609/gallon. Ah well, I thought, we’ll cope. Other folks I know are currently locked in even higher, at $2.679/gallon, and that’s the benefit Dartmouth rate. So our first delivery rolled in on November 3. Not that much, as we had only used a smidgen of the 3/4 tank left over from April.
But the rate? $2.349/gallon.
Um, what?
Turns out that somehow I never got entered as a part of the group purchase, and as a result, will be receiving oil at the market rate for the 06-07 heating season. At the moment, this seems to be a good thing, because even if the price rises 30 cents/gallon, I’ll still have saved money overall.
Interesting lesson in market pricing and administrative errors. So far, I’m the beneficiary … we’ll see how this goes over the course of the year. At the moment, I’ve saved a bit over $10.
